


The Life Above

by INFullMoon



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Light-Hearted, Narrator Chara, Original Character(s), Post-Pacifist Route, Romance, School, Slice of Life, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-06-05 23:20:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6727504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/INFullMoon/pseuds/INFullMoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After many hardships, the barrier was finally broken and monsters were given a new, peaceful life on the surface. It looks like a happy ending, however, there are still some loose ends from the past that have yet to be tied up as they lead their new daily lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Determination

**Author's Note:**

> I've been coming across a lot of angsty Undertale fanworks lately so it made me want to write some lighthearted Undertale stuff which leads to this. This story is going to have it's moments of drama and angst as well, but for the most part it's gonna be Slice of Life and just have the cast be living their new lives in the surface, so if that's what you're looking for I hope I can deliver a good experience for you.
> 
> Thanks to Dorked, Syrika and goodygoody19 for beta reading and also thanks to Blitz for doing the grammar check.

" _Frisk._ "

" _Frisk!_ "

" _For the love of god Frisk, wake up already!_ "

It was a sunny day, the light came in from the windows of the bedroom where Frisk was peacefully sleeping in until they got so rudely awakened. They sat up on their bed and yawned while stretching their arms, then scratched their head a bit, messing their bed hair even more than it already was.

" _Good morning, Chara,_ " they said to Chara in their thoughts.

" _Are you taking sleeping lessons from Sans or something?_ " Chara responded, sighing in annoyance. " _If you take any longer, you're going to school without breakfast._ "

Frisk nodded in acknowledgement of Chara then yawned, rubbed their eyes and got out of bed, heading towards the door, once they opened it they could smell the scent of waffles coming from the living room. After leaving their room they were left in a small corridor that led directly into the living room where they could see Toriel placing a plate with some waffles on a table. She was quick to notice their arrival as they walked up to her, and greeted them with the usual warm smile

"Good morning, my child. I was just about to wake you up myself," she told them, gesturing towards the waffles almost as if she was some sort of maid, "your breakfast is ready."

Frisk nodded "Thanks, Mom." they smiled as they pulled a chair for them to sit on and eat.

" _With how long it took for me to wake you up, I bet Mom would end up losing her patience with you if she tried,_ " Chara commented, still sounding annoyed.

Frisk didn’t grace that comment with a response and simply dug into the waffles. Toriel simply stood there patiently watching them happily eat her food before she remembered something

"Oh yes, remember to pack up some change of clothes before we go. You will be leaving school to spend the weekend at Sans and Papyrus’ house, am I right?"

It took a moment for Frisk to remember, but they recalled that it was already Friday and they had promised Papyrus that they would spend a couple of days in his house so that they could have some fun together alongside Sans since it had been a little while since they last hung out.

"I almos fohgot abouthit!" said Frisk, just then realizing they had their mouth full and swallowing down the food.

"Frisk, please do not speak with your mouth full," said Toriel, giving the kid a disapproving look, "thinking about it, I will just pack it while you eat so you we can save some time."

Frisk responded with just an apologetic look and a nod. Toriel then proceeded to calmly walk away towards Frisk's room and left them to eat in peace. She actually had made quite a few waffles, more than they could eat by themselves. She kinda had a problem of going a bit overboard on the amount of food...

" _So, is it good?_ " asked Chara.

Frisk answered simply by nodding as they ate.

" _Well, of course it is. It's Mom's food after all._ " said Chara, sounding happy about Toriel's cooking skills.

Frisk slightly tilted their head in confusion and gulped down their food before inquiring, "Then why did you ask?"

" _You have weird taste in stuff, I mean, you literally ate garbage back in the Underground._ "

Frisk shrugged and continued to eat. The table they were sitting at had a golden flower in a glass vase sitting on top of a white, flower shaped fabric. From their position in the table, they could see the front door and also the windows to the outside, open and letting some wind come in that made the golden flower shake gently with every refreshing gust of wind that came by. Eating breakfast like that sure was a relaxing way of beginning the day.

From there on it was all the same everyday routine. Having a shower, brushing teeth, getting dressed... Standard stuff really. Soon, it was almost time for school to begin, but thankfully they lived very close to it so it wouldn't take very long to get there, they could even end up arriving early. 

Once everything was done, Frisk stood by the front door waiting for Toriel. She also had to get herself ready since she was a teacher at the school and she often ended up taking a little longer to prepare herself as she always tried to look as “proper” as she could for her job. Although she wasn’t a particularly vain woman, Toriel still concerned herself greatly with how she presented herself to others, having been the queen of the monsters probably had something to do with it.

“Mom still taking as long to get herself ready for going out as ever, and having to wait for her is also just as annoying and boring as it was before,” said Chara, sighing.

Frisk giggled and, while they waited for her, they looked at the rest of the living room to which they had their back turned while they were having breakfast earlier. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, it had a sofa, a fireplace, a ceiling fan, a TV and the big chair Toriel could often be seen sitting on, plus a small bookshelf to the side next to the television; a simple, warm and cozy living room.  Just looking at it made Frisk wish they didn’t have to go to school and could just sit there watch TV and read all day alongside Toriel.

" _MK wanted to visit Papyrus too, right?_ " Frisk reminded themselves as they waited, " _I wonder if their parents will let them._ "

" _Considering what happened back in Waterfall, even if they don't the kid will probably just sneak out and lie to us by saying they did,_ " commented Chara, one could just tell they were rolling their eyes.

Frisk sighed, they couldn't really deny that it was something that Kid would do. One had to wonder just what must have gone through their parent’s heads while they were exploring Waterfall in search of Undyne.

Toriel finally arrived, wearing a pair of small glasses and carrying a second backpack for Frisk. She was wearing her purple dress that she usually wore when working since her robes were a little too old-fashioned for human society.

"This is the backpack with your change of clothes, Frisk. I will keep it with me since it would be rather bothersome for you to walk around with two bags. I will be teaching you by the time the school day ends, so we can switch bags once class is over, all right?"

Frisk nodded with a smile, prompting Toriel to smile back. The two then left their house, Frisk looking up at the clear blue sky and feeling a refreshing breeze pass by. Toriel made a point to hold Frisk’s hand as they walked off. 

During the trip, Frisk looked around at what was happening in the neighbourhood. It was normally very quiet, the sounds of the birds singing and blowing wind shaking the leaves on the trees along the way filling the void when there weren’t any conversations going on between anyone who happened to be outside, making for a very peaceful neighbourhood. At that time were some people walking around, a lot of them being parents with their kids which were wearing an uniform similar to Frisk’s, which was a dark blue shirt with white shorts, or skirts for the girls who wanted it. Many different cars were passing by here and there, some probably heading towards the school as well.

Eventually they got to the school, it was a fairly small building all things considered and it was surrounded by quite a lovely garden where many kids, be they monster or human, were hanging out at while waiting for the bell to ring, either sitting on either a couple of benches left around the place, the steps leading into the building or even just the grass while others were playing around. However, Frisk hadn't seen MK among them, but considering they still managed to arrive a bit early, it wasn’t much of a surprise, MK kinda had a habit of arriving late.

"Looks like we arrived early," said Toriel, letting go of Frisk's hand "I will get everything prepared for the class, you should go join your classmates in the meantime, my child."

Frisk simply nodded and smiled in response. Toriel then began walking towards the school building, waving hello to any children that made eye contact with her on the way. They could see some of the other kids walking around and chatting, but they weren't really feeling up for small talk. As they walked past the kids, they heard the sounds of some of them whispering, probably nothing good either.

“ _Hmph…_ ” muttered Chara.

" _Are you okay, Chara_?" asked Frisk, sounding quite concerned.

" _Yeah, yeah. Just go inside already,_ " they responded, sounding significantly grumpier than before.

Frisk sighed, there was really nothing that could be done about any of it at the moment, Chara still had a great distaste of humanity and that was something that was going to take time to change. On their way to the school building they soon noticed Asgore in the corner watering some flowers.

“ _Hey Chara, it’s Asgore,_ ” said Frisk, in an attempt to distract them a little.

“ _What about him?_ ” Asked Chara, then noticing the pink sweater that Asgore was wearing. “ _Oh my god he’s still wearing that old thing from ages ago…_ ” one could tell just from their tone of voice that they really wanted to facepalm now.

Frisk merely snickered at the embarrassed Chara before deciding to approach the monster king, after all there was still some time before the bell rang.

"Howdy, Frisk! Nice day today, huh?" said Asgore, noticing the child approaching him and giving them a warm smile

Frisk nodded and smiled back. “How are you doing?” They asked in an attempt of making small talk.

“I’m doing quite well, working here is a very good way of relieving stress from my duties as a king.” He then began scratching his cheek with one finger from his free hand. “Although I wish you kids were a bit more mindful of the flowers when you’re playing around.”

Frisk let out an awkward chuckle and placed a hand behind their head to further show their embarrassment, as they were quite guilty of occasionally stepping on flowers and the like when playing around during break

“ _If nothing else you’re giving him some more lovely work to do,_ ” commented Chara, “ _but I bet some of those human kids are messing with the flowers just to annoy Dad,_ ” they added, their tone sounding more bitter.

“It’s all right, at least you are all having fun,” said Asgore and just as he was about to say something else to add the sound of the bell ringing began echoing through the area, “Well, you should hurry to your class now, Tori wouldn’t like it if she found out you arrived in class late because of me.” He chuckled

“ _Yeah, especially if it’s you…_ ” said Chara, this time not sounding grumpy but rather just bothered by something.

“Actually we start with gym class today, so Undyne’s gonna be our teacher, which… I guess doesn’t make it any better as far as being late goes,” said Frisk, snickering a bit, “anyway, see you later!”

Asgore chuckled a little himself. “Have a nice class!”

Both waved goodbye at each other and Frisk headed inside the school building. Most kids that were playing around in the garden had already made their way inside as well. The first thing to do was to drop out their bag in class before heading to the gym so they looked for the door leading to their classroom and upon finding it they went in. Taking a quick look around the room they spotted Kid’s bag lying down on their chair, which was usually the one right next to Frisk, meaning they had already arrived, maybe during the time they spent talking to Asgore.

Once they were done, Frisk left the classroom and headed to the gym which was still in the same building. It was a court surrounded by stands that were there in case any big event or announcement happened in the school, although there weren’t any so far. Judging by the presence of goalposts on both ends of the court, it looked like they were going to play soccer that day.

The other kids were all waiting for Undyne in the court, some passing time by running around the open space playing tag or similar games. Frisk just joined in with the crowd waiting and among that group of children was MK, who immediately took notice of Frisk and dashed towards them.

“Yo!” They said just before tripping and landing face-first on the floor and earning the laughter of most of the others.

“ _This kid has some serious balance issues._ ” Said Chara.

“ _Maybe it’s the lack of arms._ ” Frisk responded, shrugging.

MK then got up and shook their head before speaking up again. “What’s up, dude?” They asked, apparently blissfully ignoring the laughter from the others.

Frisk was about to answer when they heard a very familiar, and loud, voice.

“All right, punks! Time to play some football!” Yelled Undyne enthusiastically as she walked into the court wearing a gym outfit comprised of red pants and a white top as well as a pair of red sneakers, she was also carrying a soccer ball with her.

The kids all exchanged confused looks with each other for a moment before someone decided to say something

“You mean soccer?” Asked a human boy

One could just see the enthusiasm be drained away from Undyne’s expression to be replaced with grouchiness. “Oh, right, soccer. Yeah that’s it.” She said, rolling her eye “Why do we call the sport where we carry the ball with the hands ‘football’ and then call the one where we actually use our feet ‘soccer’?! Who the heck named these sports?!” She muttered under her breath.

Fortunately even her muttering was loud enough for others to hear, which also resulted in the kids all snickering as their gym teacher complained about the language.

“ANYWAY!” Yelled Undyne as she regained her composure, “Let’s just do some practice today, I’ll be the goalie and you guys take turns trying to score a goal on me, got it?”

“Yes ma’am!” The class responded passionately as if they were in a military camp.

“Then what are you waiting for? Form a line!” Said Undyne as she started moving towards the goalpost

Everyone then began to gather and form a line, Frisk ended up being the last one in a line comprised of around twenty kids not counting them. Undyne dropped the soccer ball in the spot used for penalty kicks and got in position, waiting for the first kid to make their attempt.

From them on Undyne proceeded to catch the ball without fail every single time, all the while keeping a proud grin on her face while every kid looked disappointed as they were failing one by one and having to go to the end of the line.

“Come on kids! You can do better than that!” Said Undyne in an attempt to encourage them

Eventually Frisk’s turn arrived and once Undyne saw them stepping forward, she grinned like she had been eagerly waiting for it this entire time. The grin on her face looked almost psychotic much to Frisk’s dismay as seeing that kind of expression on her face could never lead to anything pleasant.

“ _Thank god she’s not the one kicking,_ ” Said Chara, sounding almost scared, Frisk slightly nodding in agreement.

“Come on, Frisk, show me what you’ve got!” Said Undyne as she was getting in position.

Frisk gulped and got themselves in position, taking a step back and then dashing towards the ball. They briefly glanced to Undyne’s left, which she seemed to catch on to, and as soon as Frisk kicked the ball she dove to her left, only for Frisk to kick it in the other direction and score a goal.

All of their classmates then let out a collective “Ooooh!” And Undyne looked shocked with her failure as she dropped to the ground. She quickly got back on her feet and picked up the ball up and tossed it at Frisk, who caught it in their hands.

“Nice shot, punk! But this time it won’t get past me!” She said, getting in position for the next shot.

It wasn’t just some soccer practice now, it was a competition, a duel between two great friends. Undyne was pumped now and now they could only hope she would calm down before she ended up wrecking the place somehow, but until them they just had to endure.

Frisk placed the ball in its spot, took some steps back and rushed to kick it once more, trying to use the same strategy as before, unfortunately Undyne seemed to have caught up to it as she leaped to the correct side and grabbed the ball, much to the disappointment of Frisk’s classmates, who did a collective “Aaaw.” in response to the events.

“Best of three, come on!” Said Undyne as she threw the ball back at Frisk.

“Frisk! Frisk! Frisk!” Chanted their classmates.

“ _Wow, they’re all actually rooting for you,_ ” said Chara, sounding genuinely surprised.

Frisk then put the ball in place and stepped back before taking a very deep breath.

“ _Aaaand you’re at it again,_ ” said Chara, rolling their eyes as much as a disembodied voice could, “ _hearing your classmates cheer for you, it’s filling you with determination._ ”

“What are you waiting for?! Just kick already!” Yelled Undyne, starting to get impatient.

Frisk then ran at full speed towards the ball, preparing themselves for their best kick as their classmates’ cheering intensified almost as if they were in a big stadium watching the finals of the world cup. Frisk kicked the ball as hard as they could and Undyne dove to the right at such speed that all everyone could see was a blur for that brief moment before she ended up going straight at one the goalposts and hitting her head on it.

As it turned out, Frisk’s kick went too far to the side, hitting only the corner of the ball, which resulted in it slowly going forward while spinning madly. There was dead, suspenseful silence as the ball began slowly but surely making it’s way into the goal while Undyne was still recovering from her dramatic act.

The ball made it in, it was the second and final goal. The students burst into joy as they began cheering for Frisk’s victory, throwing their arms up and some even clapping. Frisk turned to them looking sheepish, they were not used to being the center of attention like that, at least, not outside of a serious situation.

“Grr…” Undyne grumbled as she stood back up, rubbing the area of her head that bumped into the goalpost. She grabbed the ball and walked towards Frisk with an expression her face that looked like a mix of anger and challenging as she pointed to the goal with her free hand. “Switch, now! I’ll show you what a  _ REAL _ kick looks like!”

The class gasped and Frisk flinched as they could feel a huge chill down their spine as their worst fear, at least as far as that class was concerned, had become a reality.

“ _And there goes the determination,_ ” said Chara.

Frisk gulped and nodded before walking towards the goal and getting in position. As they stood there fearing for their life and shaking while trying to maintain a brave face, Undyne was getting ready for her kick, with the ball being the only thing between the two of them as they stared each other.

“ _You are not thinking of_ _ actually _ _catching that thing, right?_ ” Asked Chara, beginning to sound worried.

Frisk just shook their head slightly as they waited for their fate.

“Ready?! Here comes the kick of a true warrior! NGAAAAAAH!”

Undyne rushed towards the ball and then kicked it so hard that the sound of the impact her foot made on the ball echoed through the gym as the ball was sent flying past Frisk at such speed that it was nothing more than a blur rending the air next to them. The rope behind the goal was not nearly enough to fully contain the ball’s might as it tore a hole through it and went straight into a wall, hitting it so hard it left a huge hole in the wall and exploded into a million pieces that rained down on the court like it was confetti.

There was pure silence as all of the class’ had their jaws on the floor, their arms hanging out limply and their eyes bugging out in disbelief, except for Frisk, whose body had tensed out in such a way that they couldn’t even move as if they had been turned to stone, staring blankly ahead as their life flashed before their very eyes.

“ _I… I don’t think she should be teaching children, or anyone,_ ” said Chara, the events managing to break even their composure.

Undyne blinked as she stared at the hole the ball made on the wall when it exploded, her one eye twitching as it dawned on her just what she had done.

“Uh…” she then looked at her watch, then back at the class, “Well! Class is over, punks! Go to your classrooms!”

Everyone nodded and quickly ran off, except for Frisk, who had just now broken off statue mode by sitting on the ground, taking deep breaths as they placed a hand on their chest where their heart would be. Noticing all that, Undyne walked over to them with an embarrassed look on her face.

“Hey, Frisk, sorry about all that.” She chuckled. “It’s just that, y’know, I get a little excited, especially with you since we’re friends, if it was any of the other kids I wouldn’t have gone this far.”

“ _Well, aren’t you lucky._ ” said Chara, their tone dripping with sarcasm.

“It’s… fine…” said Frisk, while panting for breath.

“All right, so. Get outta here and go to class! I gotta figure out what to do now,” she said, grimacing as she looked back at the hole in the wall, “Toriel is gonna kill me after this…” she muttered under her breath as she began walking towards it to have a better notion of the extent of the damage she had done.

Frisk then got up and, with a little sigh, went after their other classmates to go to some more normal classes. Although they could have potentially gotten themselves killed by a soccer ball,they couldn’t help but smile a bit at the sheer ridiculousness of the events that just transpired in the gym.

Undyne’s class was always an exciting way to start the school day.


	2. Acceptance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to post new chapters once every 2 weeks but I can't really promise I'll be able to keep that schedule since I can't predict what will happen in my life. Either way, thanks for the kudos guys! I'm not too sure on this one chapter but I think this is a good as I'll be able to make it anyway.
> 
> Thanks to goodygoody19 for beta reading and Blitz for doing the grammar check.

The rest of the school period was pretty uneventful, though it was hard to top Undyne’s classes in that aspect. The other classes were actually normal and the break time was spent hanging out with MK as usual.

Eventually the bell rang out and everybody began going home, Toriel was the teacher of Frisk’s class and she simply gave them the other bag for spending the weekend at the skeletons’ house when they gave her their school bag since they wouldn’t need it there. Even if they thought of taking some time to study, it wouldn’t be the most fun way to spend the weekend with Sans and Papyrus.

Afterwards Frisk and MK went to the school entrance, there were still a good amount of kids around waiting for their parents to come pick them up, outside, there was a crowd comprised of the parents that had already arrived. After some looking around, they managed to see Papyrus standing right next to the hedge that Asgore made in the shape of his head.

“Yooooo! Is that really Papyrus?!” said MK, enthusiastic

Frisk nodded with a smile on their face seeing that MK had been looking forward to meeting up with Papyrus for a while now, though they had no idea of when they started worshipping him like that.

“ _Tall skeleton wearing a silly plastic armor, yeah, that can only be Papyrus,”_ commented Chara.

 _“It looks pretty nice on him though,”_ Frisk commented back.

MK dashed towards Papyrus who seemed to be lost in thought as he was admiring the hedge, but upon hearing the noise of someone fall on the floor his attention was directed to MK, who had once again tripped and landed with their face on the floor right next to him.

“Oh! Are you alright?” He asked them, alarmed by the sudden approach.

MK got up and looked up at Papyrus like nothing had happened. “Papyrus, dude! I’m like, your biggest fan!” They said, beaming like mad.

“A fan? I have a fan?” Said Papyrus, letting it all sink in for a moment, before excitedly placing his hands on his cheeks, “Oh my god! I have a fan! I have to tell this to my brother! I knew this day would come and I didn’t even need to join the Royal Guard!”

He was about to run off when he stopped himself on his tracks and looked back at MK.

“Oh yes, have you seen Frisk around? I was supposed to pick them up here…”

Frisk approached them, having decided to just watch Papyrus’ reaction to finding his first fanboy, waving and getting the skeleton to notice them.

“There you are, Frisk! Are you ready for a very exciting weekend at my home?” He proudly asked them before turning back to MK, “Are you Frisk’s friend who will be coming along?”

“Yeah!” MK enthusiastically replied, they were even wagging their tail like some kind of dog.

“I see, so Frisk’s friend is also my fan... “ said Papyrus, bringing a hand to his chin as he began to think about the situation “That’s great! Then I shall make today the most enjoyable experience of your life!” He announced, louder than how he usually spoke and drawing the attention of some of the other people around, although he seemingly didn’t acknowledge their gaze.

“So, where’s Sans?” Frisk asked, looking around to see if Sans was hiding somewhere.

“My brother is waiting for us in the car, he was too lazy to get out of it,” Papyrus’ eyes then narrowed a little. “As usual.”

“ _I’m surprised he even bothered to get in the car in the first place,_ ” commented Chara, earning a smile from Frisk as they agreed with them.

“Anyway! We shouldn’t keep my brother waiting!” said Papyrus.

He then began walking towards outside the school gates, Frisk and Kid briefly glanced at each other, the latter looking very excited and although they didn’t say anything, the look on their face made it clear they were very grateful for Frisk bringing them along for the ride. Frisk just smiled at MK before they both followed Papyrus.

Outside, not too far down the street the school was in, Frisk spotted a familiar looking, bright red open-air racing car with an even more familiar skeleton in a blue coat lying down on the front seat, he looked like he was about to fall asleep until Papyrus came over with the two children.

“Sans! Frisk and their friend are here! This is no time for sleeping!” said Papyrus as he opened the back door for the two of them to get in.

“Ok,” said Sans, then looking back from his seat to look at the new passengers, “‘sup kiddos, you sure took your time.”

“It’s not like you care, right?” Asked Frisk with a knowing smile

“Nope,” Sans replied, followed by a chuckle.

“Yooo! This car is so cool!” Commented Kid as they looked around like they were lost inside the vehicle.

“Of course it’s cool, it was chosen by my car expert brother!” Said Papyrus as he got in his seat and put on his seatbelt, “By the way, remember to wear your seat belts.” He then seemed to glance at Sans to see if he was wearing his and since he said nothing about it, it seemed like his brother remembered.

“Heh, thanks bro,” said Sans, sounding quite pleased with himself.

“ _Where did he even get the money to buy a race car so quickly? Did Sans rob a bank?_ ” asked Chara, sounding genuinely curious

“ _...Let’s not think about that._ ” Frisk responded, that was one question that was probably better left unanswered

Frisk helped MK put on his seat belt since having no arms would make it a little hard for them to do on his own. After that was done, Frisk put their own seat belt on and gave Kid a thumbs-up

“Thanks, dude!” Said MK, with a smile

Papyrus then started up the car and began driving them to his and Sans’ home, all the while Kid was bouncing up and down on their seat in excitement as they looked at the world around them

“By the way kid, i remember seeing you around Snowdin sometimes, what’s your name again?” Asked Sans

“My name is Kid!” They answered

“...Kid?!” Said Papyrus, in disbelief

“Your parents named you ‘Kid’?” Asked Sans, looking back at them from his seat with a look of confusion in his eyes, getting a nod from Kid as a response, “Wow… uh… that’s cool.”

“Well, I think it’s a great name!” said Papyrus, although it was hard to tell if he was being sincere or just wanting to make MK feel better about it.

MK frowned for a moment, their name was often the target of a lot of teasing they had to deal with at school. They were soon smiling again, however, it did look like the topic had hit a nerve even if they had already gotten used to it at school.

“Anyways, nice to meet ya, Kid. I hope you have fun hanging out with us,” said Sans, winking at them before turning himself forward again, knowing him, he probably decided to switch topics after noticing MK’s expression..

“I sure will, I’ll be hanging with Papyrus after all!” MK said with a big grin

“Of course! The great Papyrus always provides with quality entertainment, nyehehe!” Papyrus exclaimed

Frisk just leaned on their seat and began looking at what was going on in the streets on the way to the skeletons’ house. There were mainly humans around, some monster occasionally and they even spotted Grillby’s new bar among the buildings. Sans still went there regularly and from what they knew, the place had been fairly successful even with the humans. Knowing Sans, he would probably end up dragging them there during the weekend, to Papyrus’ dismay.

Eventually they arrived at the skeleton household and their place looked exactly the same from the outside, except for the Christmas decorations being gone, even the little garage was there. MK had fallen asleep during the way so after Papyrus parked the car in the garage, Frisk took off both their and MK’s seatbelts while Papyrus and Sans got out of the car.

“ _He meets his new idol and somehow manages to fall asleep just like that,_ ” commented Chara, sounding somewhat baffled.

“ _Being excited must be tiring, maybe some of the typical school boredom made him sleepy too_ ” said Frisk in an attempt to justify the situation.

“Looks like my young fan ended up falling asleep,” said Papyrus

“We should probably wake him up before someone calls the cops,” Sans suggested, nonchalantly.

“Why would someone call the police?” Asked Papyrus, giving Sans an odd look and sounding slightly concerned.

“Because we have a _kidnapping_ here,” Sans answered, winking

“Ugh! Sans!” Said Papyrus, facepalming

“ _Heh, he walked right into that one,_ ” said Chara.

Frisk merely snickered, as bad as Sans’ puns were they couldn’t help but feel amused whenever he made one, Papyrus’ usual reactions to them had a lot to do with it too. Thanks to Sans and Toriel exposing them to puns so much, it looked like their sense of humor was rubbing off on them, for better or for worse.

Frisk then shook MK a little so they would wake up and once the kid began opening their eyes, they were unsurprisingly still groggy and barely seemed to register what was going on around them.

“Eh? Are we there yet…?” MK let out a yawn, to which Frisk responded with a nod, all of sudden the kid stood up with all their energy restored “Really?!”

“Yes, my young admirer, we have arrived! Just follow me and you’ll get to see my exquisite home!” Said Papyrus, proudly stepping towards towards the still open garage gate.

MK excitedly followed Papyrus, leaving Sans and Frisk in the garage. The two of them exchanged looks and Frisk noticed that the skeleton was wearing a black shirt with a rib cage picture on it under his coat, it suited him well, if nothing else. Sans then began leaving himself and gestured to Frisk to follow his lead, to which they complied

The inside of the house was exactly the same as it was back in the Underground. Right in front of the door was the kitchen, to their left was the living room with the couch and the TV, to the right was the table where Sans’ little pet rock was left on… everything was still there, and was almost nostalgic even though it hadn’t been that long since the last time they were there.

“Yooooo!” Yelled MK in awe, “Your house is SO cool!” They told Papyrus

“Why, of course! It’s only fair that someone as great as me live in an equally great and neatly organized house!” Papyrus proudly replied

“Sans’ sock is still there.” Frisk pointed out, noticing the sock next to the television with a bunch of sticky notes on it.

Papyrus then gave Sans a very disapproving look. “Sans! Didn’t I tell you to help clean the house?!”

“I must’ve forgotten,” said Sans, giving a carefree shrug.

 _"It’s almost sad that he still expects Sans to do housework,”_ said Chara.

Papyrus sighed. “Anyway, I should prepare our dinner.” He then looked at Frisk and MK. “Make yourselves at home, my brother will provide you with entertainment while I work on my special spaghetti.”

“Wait, you can cook?!” Asked MK, looking amazed

“ _Depending on your definition of ‘cook’..._ ” Said Chara

“Why, yes! I am a very talented cook, especially when it comes to pasta!”

“Yooo! That’s awesome! I can’t wait to taste your food!” Said MK, indeed being very antsy

Sans and Frisk exchanged looks with each other briefly, by the look of both of their faces, they knew they had thought of the very same thing: dinner time was going to be very fun. Papyrus himself seemed so overjoyed that someone was that excited to eat his food that you could see his eye lighten up as if someone had placed a neon light inside them.

“I shall go to the kitchen!” Papyrus announced

And like so, he dashed to the kitchen as fast as he could to start preparing his spaghetti with a newfound motivation, one could only hope that said motivation would actually help him make something edible. Though, at the same time, Frisk was actually looking forward to bad spaghetti this time just to see how MK would take it.

“While we wait, how about we sit on the couch and watch some tv?” Suggested Sans, not even waiting for them to give an answer before heading to the couch.

Frisk and MK followed suit, both of them dropping their backpacks on the floor in front of the couch before sitting on it, with Sans being right between them. Sans picked up the remote control and tuned in to some cartoon that was airing at the time.

“So, you’re my brother’s new fanboy right?” Sans asked MK, who responded with a nod, “Wanna hear some cool things about him?”

“Like what?” Asked MK, looking very curious.

“Like... did you see those clothes he’s wearing?” Sans asked MK, who once again responded with a nod “Well, that’s his battle body, he always keeps it on in case he gets in a fight, i helped make it.”

“Really?! What else?” Asked MK, getting more and more curious each second

“Well, did you know papyrus more than once fought undyne to a standstill, he’s almost as strong as she is,” answered Sans, sounding quite proud.

“Yooo! Do you think I’ll get to see Papyrus fight someday?”

“ _Those two are going to be be nerding out about Papyrus all night,_ ” said Chara, sounding amused by the whole discussion

“ _Can’t blame them, Papyrus is a cool guy,_ ” Said Frisk, smiling, although said smile soon began to look a little sadder.

Although Frisk was content to just sit there and listen to them talk, as he heard Sans talk up his brother at the same time listening to it made images begin resurfacing in their mind, images that they wished they could forget but would probably never be able to fully leave behind.

They recalled being alone with Papyrus in an area covered in mist, slowly approaching the skeleton as he offered help to someone who had been nothing but unpleasant to them only to have that kindness be repaid by...

Frisk quietly sighed and began thinking of just how much damage they had caused, even if indirectly. How Sans must’ve felt once Papyrus was gone, how Alphys felt about everything that she must’ve seen… Even though everything was now fixed, things still didn’t feel quite right.

“Yo, Frisk, are you ok?”

Hearing their name being called, Frisk turned to look at MK and Sans, both of which were looking worried. Without realizing it, Frisk had been looking down with a blank look in their face and the two of them obviously took notice of it. Not wanting to halt their conversation any further, Frisk just smiled and did a dismissive gesture with their hand. As expected, none of them bought it, but they didn’t press the issue any further and went back to chatting.

“ _You dropped your guard pretty badly there,_ ” said Chara, sounding sympathetic.

“ _Why didn’t you warn me about it?_ ” Frisk asked.

“ _I wasn’t paying attention either,_ ” Chara bluntly replied

Sans then turned to Frisk, snapping them out of their conversation with Chara, they could tell he was still a little curious about earlier and so was MK.

“So, Frisk, what has been Tori been up to?” Asked Sans.

Frisk wondered if Sans had gotten the impression that they were feeling left out of the earlier conversation and was just trying to make small talk. Either way, it was a good way to take their mind off those memories, so they were happy to play along.

Or they would if the smell of spaghetti hadn’t begun filling the area and Papyrus came out of the kitchen, proudly marching towards them carrying plates of spaghetti in both hands and also one on his head which was kept in perfect balance. He then placed the two he had in hand on the table, slowly crouching down so as to not drop the one in his head as he did so and when his hands were free, he picked up that one and placed it on the table with the others. The whole scene was just funny to watch so all three of them seated on the couch couldn’t help themselves but snicker while being simultaneously impressed.

“Sans, can you pick up your plate and the drinks in the kitchen?” Papyrus asked as he sat down.

“Sure thing, bro.”

Surprisingly enough Sans actually stood up and went to the kitchen grab everything up. Frisk and MK then got off the couch and sat down, MK sitting on the side directly opposite to Papyrus while Frisk was facing the television. Papyrus then slid their plates for them and Sans soon returned with his own plate in one hand and another plate with four juice boxes in the other one. He sat down in front of Frisk and distributed the juice boxes of various flavors between them.

“ _Bone_ appetite,” said Sans, with a wink.

“Sans…” said Papyrus, rolling his eyes.

Frisk giggled and then glanced at MK who, due to a lack of arms, basically had to wolf down the spaghetti in order to eat. They were quick to begin eating and upon seeing that, Frisk shot a look at Sans again, both giving knowing looks to each other before looking back at MK. It took a moment, but once the kid began tasting the spaghetti their face scrunched up so much it almost looked like there was a black hole in the center of their face trying to suck in the rest of it. There was no doubt about it, that was the face of someone who just their expectations blown up in the most horrible of ways.

“That expression in your face…” said Papyrus, looking focused on MK, “... it clearly shows a passionate love for my culinary skills!” He concluded, looking quite pleased with himself.

“Uh… yeah! It’s… unbelievable,” said MK, trying their best to be polite to their hero.

That particular choice of words was enough to make Sans and Frisk have to hold back some laughter as best as they could while watching the scene unfold, neither of them having even touched their plates yet.

“ _Smooth save,_ ” commented Chara, trying to hold back laughter themselves.

“I see. Well, I can give you more of my delicious spaghetti since you’ve loved it so much. I always make more than needed just in case!”

MK’s face completely fell at this point, one could even see the color of their body start to fade in shock. At this point, Sans and Frisk couldn’t take it anymore and began snickering, both trying to cover their mouths with their hands as they did so, all the while looking away from Papyrus so he wouldn’t notice, it didn’t stop MK from noticing once the shock wore off though.

MK frowned, then began considering his options before giving Papyrus a confident smile “Yeah! We should _all_ have some more spaghetti since it’s _so_ good!” They suggested.

Both Sans and Frisk were stunned as they realized that the joke was now on them.

“ _This is one of those times where I’m very glad I’m just a spectator,_ ” commented Chara, with a very carefree tone of voice.

“You’re right! I should increase the portion on your plates, what you have now isn’t going to be filling enough!” Said Papyrus, already beginning to stand up.

“Uh… wait, bro,” said Sans, trying to remain calm, “we haven’t even begun eating yet, maybe you should let us finish and see if we’re still hungry,” he suggested

Frisk just nodded frantically in agreement and Papyrus seemed to ponder about it before nodding himself.

“That is true, giving you too much would be such a waste, oh well.” Papyrus sat down once more “Well, let’s finish eating, I have also prepared some puzzles for us to enjoy together once we’re done!”

Sans and Frisk both sighed in relief, then looked at MK who was giving them both a smirk. That was the face of someone that should not be messed with, at least not without due preparation, even if they both managed to dodge the bullet this time.

Next time, they should all just order a pizza.

\---------------------------------------------------------

The time spent afterwards was not as memorable but still pleasant nonetheless. Papyrus and MK passed time playing with action figures and coming up with various silly scenarios, Sans was just sitting on the couch watching cartoon on TV while also watching the two of them play, finally, Frisk was reading a comic book that Sans had borrowed from Alphys about some kind of superpowered chef.

“...And now that you’re wide open, I deal the finishing blow with my special attack!” said MK, getting caught in the moment and ended up speaking quite loudly.

“Curses!  I was sure my strategy was flawless,” said Papyrus, looking legitimately upset, folding his arms as he stopped to think for a moment, “I didn’t think you would be so sharp minded, clearly you must have learned some of it from me.”

“ _Somehow I doubt that,_ ” commented Chara.

“Good job kid, to this day i haven’t beaten my bro in those roleplays” said Sans.

“ _I get the feeling he just let Papyrus win each time,_ ” thought Frisk, snickering as the comic book blocked their expression from view.

“ _Either that or Papyrus just godmods his way to victory,”_ suggested Chara.

MK just laughed the whole thing off for a bit, but then all of sudden they seemed to freeze as they seemingly realized something.

“Uh… Yo, what time is it?” they asked, looking a little anxious

Sans looked a little weirded out by the sudden change in behavior, but then pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and looked at the time. “Just a little past 8.”

MK then grimaced and seemed to be quite antsy, so there was definitely something up and Frisk couldn’t help but feel like it was bad news.

“Kid…what did you do?” asked Frisk, already dreading the answer.

“Y-You see…I actually told my parents that I was going to your house to study and I told them they could pick me up at 8,” explained MK, with a nervous smile.

“Wouldn’t that mean-” Papyrus began saying.

Frisk’s cellphone then began ringing and they froze for a moment before reluctantly removing it from their pocket and looking at who was calling. It was Toriel, much to their dismay.

“Uh…bro, how about you drive the kid back home?” suggested Sans.

“Of course! Follow me, my little fan, the great Papyrus will bring you home in no time!” said Papyrus, standing up and heading out to the garage.

MK then stood up as well and looked at Frisk with an apologetic expression. “Sorry, dude, I completely lost track of the time.”

With that said, MK began running after Papyrus, tripping and landing face first not too long after the initial dash, before getting up and rushing after his hero. Frisk could only sigh and prepare to hear quite a bit from a worried and upset Toriel.

“ _I feel like they’re just going to get lost,_ ” commented Chara.

“ _Please don’t jinx it like that or I’ll be in a lot of trouble.”_ responded Frisk, starting to get anxious.

The phone was still ringing and no doubt Toriel was going to get worried if they didn’t answer it. However, as soon as Frisk answered the call Sans grabbed the phone from their hand and gave them a wink to let them know he would handle the situation for them. But once he began hearing Toriel’s voice he flinched, it sounded like she was pretty upset.

“Hey Tori, don’t worry, my bro is already bringing the kid home. Frisk has nothing to do with it, kid just forgot to tell us about the important bits,” he told her, then pausing in order to let Toriel answer, “‘k, I’ll let them know, see ya.”

Sans then ended the call and handed the phone back to Frisk, who let out a sigh of relief that they didn’t have to deal with that.

“Tori said that you shouldn’t forget to brush your teeth before going to bed,” he said, letting out a couple of chuckles, “man, Tori is quite the _mom_ ster huh?” joked Sans.

Frisk smiled, as bad as Sans jokes were, they were a good way of setting up a lighter mood. Now that the situation had been defused, it was just the two of them in the house until Papyrus returned. MK’s house wasn’t very far, so it likely wouldn’t take long for Papyrus to come back unless there was an unfortunate traffic jam in the way.

"So, how about looking at the stars from the balcony while bro is out?” Sans suggested, pointing at the direction of a door upstairs with his thumb.

Frisk nodded and got off the couch with Sans following suit, the pair then headed upstairs and into the balcony where the skeleton’s telescope was sitting there waiting for them. Looking up at the sky, there weren’t that many stars, but there were just enough to make looking at them through a telescope worth it.

“By the way, kid… what happened that left you so bummed out earlier?” asked Sans, sounding a little preoccupied

Frisk remained silent, unsure of whether telling Sans about it would be best or not. They avoided looking at the skeleton directly, the expression on their face becoming one of regret and, knowing Sans, that would be something he would notice very quickly.

“Kid… What did you do?” he asked, now starting to get seriously concerned.

 _"Are you going to tell him?”_ asked Chara, curious, but also sounding worried.

At this point it wasn’t much of a choice, it was clear that keeping it hidden from Sans would just make thing worse in the long run, especially if he happened to tell anyone else about it, such as Toriel. Taking a deep breath, Frisk decided to start speaking.

“Sans… you know about the resets, right?” Frisk asked, still avoiding looking at the skeleton in the eye.

Hearing the topic of resets come up, Sans' interest was definitely piqued, although the look in his eyes also showed some concern. “What about it?”

“Do… Do you have any memory of what I’ve done in the past?” asked Frisk, placing a hand on their on their other arm and beginning to rub it.

“Not really, i could tell something was up with you from the start, but what you did in other timelines… i have no clue.” He shrugged. “Though by that look on your face, it couldn’t have been anything good.”

“... I killed your brother,” said Frisk, rather bluntly, “not only him, but Toriel, Undyne, Mettaton... so many other monsters…”

Sans remained silent for a bit, the grin on his face remained the same as always, maybe a little smaller than usual, but the look on his eyes carried entirely different feelings about the topic at hand.

“Why?” Sans asked, although it looked like he already had an idea of the motive, a guess that Frisk themselves already knew of.

“... It’s hard to explain.” Frisk sighed. “It’s… really hard to explain.”

The whole conversation came down to a halt between the two of them as they just stood in silence, the only noise being that of the wind and the occasional car passing by the road nearby. Frisk kept the same guilt-ridden expression on their face while Sans’ own expression was basically unreadable as he seemed to be evaluating the whole situation. They spent a couple of minutes like that before Sans relaxed a little and placed a hand on Frisk’s head.

“Look, kid, you did some really messed up stuff, but it doesn’t matter anymore, ok. Everyone is alive, we’re free and we’re all friends, that’s what matters now,” he said, stroking their head a little before stopping, his expression starting to get a little darker“... unless you’re thinking of resetting every-”

“No!” yelled Frisk out of pure instinct, looking deeply offended by the mere suggestion that they would do such a thing, even managing to startle Sans and make him take a step back and remove his hand from their head reflexively. “Why would I do that? There’s nothing for me to win by doing it, I’ve already seen what happens when I kill… and I don’t want to do it again,” they said more calmly, although they still sounded upset.

Sans seemed to take some comfort in how repulsed they were with the idea of doing a reset, which wasn’t really all that surprising, but still, it certainly seemed to have improved his mood even though the current topic wasn’t exactly what one would call pleasant.

“It’s all in the past, kid, none of it really happened as far as we’re concerned so you shouldn’t care about it,” said Sans, shrugging.

“Easy for you to say, you don’t remember anything...” Frisk sighed. “When you were talking to MK about Papyrus earlier, it all came back… The memories of when I killed Papyrus and left you without a brother...” They then looked up at Sans with a resigned look. “You would understand if you still had the memories of your brother dying like that.”

Sans’ smile then turned into what could be better described as a smirk instead of a grin “maybe i do.”

"H-Huh?”

“Time and time again i’ll have these nightmares about stuff like that, maybe those are some of the dormant memories from past timelines, who knows.” Sans shrugged once again, as if he truly didn’t care about it..

Frisk covered their mouth with one hand in shock. “I… I’m sorry. I did this to you and-”

“Kid, relax. Nightmares happen, even if you might be the reason behind some of them.”

“But-”

“You can’t fix everything, Frisk, you already made up for what you did, you should just leave that timeline behind and focus on this new one you made” suggested Sans, although he was being more serious, he also tried to keep a gentle attitude.

“ _It’s not even all your fault, you know? A lot of it was you just watching while I was using your body,_ ” said Chara, the sound of their voice expressing clear regret as they tried to provide some comfort.

Frisk was silent as they took in Sans and Chara’s words, looking down at the ground under them and taking a deep breath.

"You probably don’t have a lot of people to talk about that, so if you ever feel down about it, just give me a ring, k? I’ll make sure to prepare some hilarious jokes to raise your spirits,” offered Sans, with a chuckle.

Frisk looked back at Sans, then stepped closer to him and gave him a hug, which the skeleton gladly returned. All things considered he wasn’t exactly very soft to hug, thanks to being all bone and no skin, but the clothes helped a little bit and it still felt nice to hug him.

“You did good, kid,” said Sans, giving Frisk a couple of pats on the head.

“Thanks,” said Frisk, smiling although Sans wouldn’t be able to see it due to their face being pressed against his shirt.

Even just hugging Sans was making Frisk recall the events that happened just before they reset the timeline in order to begin saving everyone.  However, this time they didn’t feel regret or pain, just a warm feeling of comfort

Sans then let go of Frisk.“Anyway, weren’t we here to use the telescope?” he said as he placed a hand on the telescope to draw attention to it.

Frisk nodded and let go of Sans in order to use the telescope, doing something like that would be a good distraction from the conversation they just had. Looking through the telescope’s lenses, unfortunately there weren’t many stars in the sky, but it was still a nice view, especially compared to the glowing rocks from Waterfall that, while pretty, was still a poor substitute for seeing real stars in the night sky.

“A shame there aren’t many stars around compared to when we first saw them.” commented Sans, probably having been looking up at the sky himself.

“I think it has something to do with pollution clouding the sky.” Frisk then took their eyes off the telescope and looked back at Sans. “Maybe we could schedule a day with everyone to go camping. Then we’d be able to see a sky full of stars again.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me.” said Sans, then noticing Papyrus in the streets returning in his car “All right, kid, looks like bro is back. Let’s go back in.”

Sans then walked back inside the house with Frisk following after him. Back at the living room, they met up with Papyrus who was looking quite tired.

“Hey bro, how did it go?” asked Sans

“My young fan has been safely returned to his parents and they began yelling at him out of relief that he was all right,” said Papyrus, his eyes shifting a little bit “... among other things.”

“ _Somebody is going to be grounded for a good while._ ” said Chara

Papyrus then gave Frisk an odd look. “Frisk, why did you draw a red circle around your eye? That’s not very fashionable.”

“A red cir-” said Frisk, then stopping themselves once they realized what he was talking about and directing an unamused look at Sans.

“That’s what you get for _spacing_ _out_ , kid.” said Sans, with a shrug.

“ _Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice…”_ commented Chara, trailing off before finishing the saying

Frisk couldn’t really stay upset for too long, that kind of thing was par for the course with Sans and honestly it felt like that kind of thing was just what they needed at the time and the skeleton probably knew that too. With a slightly amused look on their face, they merely shook their head at the bad joke

Some things really shouldn’t change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea if I can use the skelebro's fonts in here or else I would if I could. I also decided to use normal capitalization for them because having Papyrus speaking in all caps would not be very pleasant for the eye and having Sans keep his while his brother doesn't wouldn't be weird.
> 
> If anybody is curious this fanfic is indeed set in the same universe as my oneshot A Glimmer of Hope which is kind of a prequel to this story. I should probably group them together as a series later, I'm still getting used to how AO3 works.


	3. Faith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man this took a while, so much for getting a chapter done every 2 weeks, but at least I made it this time. I have no guarantee on when I'll get the next one done, but hopefully it shouldn't take this long.
> 
> Thanks to goodygoody19 for beta reading and Blitz for doing the grammar check, as always.

After spending the rest of the night with Sans and Papyrus, Frisk was resting on a comfortable, soft bed in a welcoming dark room enjoying a peaceful night of sleep.  


They felt more at ease with themselves after the talk with Sans yesterday, their mind drifting into a pleasant dream. That is, until they heard the loud sound of curtains opening as the room became slightly brighter, followed by the sound of a loud voice echoing through the room.

“Good morning, Frisk!” Papyrus yelled out.

Frisk slowly sat up on the bed, half-asleep and wearing skeleton themed pajamas as they looked at Papyrus’ cheerful grin. He was definitely a lot more energetic than they were currently, or anyone would be, seeing as the sun wasn’t even out yet.

After regaining some more of their consciousness, Frisk  glanced at the clock on the wall next to a bookshelf at the other side of the room. Looking at the time, they noticed that it was exactly 6 AM.

“ _Seriously? 6 AM? Who wakes up at 6 AM on a Saturday?!_ ” asked Chara, incredulous.

“Papyrus,” Frisk bluntly replied, letting out a yawn and stretching a little.

“You look sleepy, so I’ll leave you to wake up and go downstairs so we can make the most of this new day!” said Papyrus, then enthusiastically heading for the door.

Frisk watched as Papyrus left the room and then just sat there for a couple of minutes, contemplating life as they tried to gather the energy to stand up instead of just collapsing on their bed again and going back to sleep.

“ _Today is going to be a long day,”_ said Chara.

“I think I’ll like it once I wake up for real,” Frisk responded, letting out another yawn.

Standing up, Frisk headed to the closet next to the bookshelf, to get a change of clothes. They picked their typical dark blue shirt with a purple stripe and blue shorts and went to take a warm shower in hopes that it would help them wake up faster.

After a mostly pleasant warm bath, brushing teeth and an attempt at doing their hair, Frisk went downstairs to meet up with Papyrus and they found him standing in front of the table where Sans’ pet rock was.

It was then that they noticed something was different about the skeleton that they might have not noticed before, which was his outfit, the part that drew most of their attention being the fact that “jog boy” was written on his armor.

“ _Don’t tell me…_ ” thought Frisk, already dreading what was to come.

“I see you are ready to go jogging at the park!” said Papyrus, looking quite eager.

“ _He told you,_ ” said Chara, teasingly.

Although Frisk really didn’t feel like going jogging that early in the morning, at the same time they figured spending some time with Papyrus that way couldn’t be a bad experience. It might even be fun, eventual fatigue aside, and it could also be a good opportunity to get to spend some time alone with Papyrus considering that Sans was unlikely to wake up that early.

That’s what they thought, until suddenly they felt a hand on their head and tensed up for a moment before instantly turning around to find Sans standing right behind them, grinning like always.

“Hey kiddo, what’s with the scared look?” asked Sans, chuckling, “Did I send a chill down your spine?” He winked.

Frisk sighed, both in exasperation and as a way of relieving themselves of the scare they had just gotten. Sans was really good at catching them off guard in all sorts of ways.

“Sans?! You’re awake?!” asked Papyrus, so shocked he didn’t even notice the pun.

“Yeah, I know you get up early so I made an attempt to join you guys today,” said Sans, letting out a yawn as he covered his mouth with one hand while he ruffled Frisk’s hair with the other, which they mind.

“Great! Then we should waste no more time!” said Papyrus, looking even more eager than he did before.

Frisk nodded and the trio headed for the door, however, the moment Papyrus opened it a chilling gust of wind rudely made its way inside and made Frisk begin shivering. It didn’t pass by quickly either, instead another gust of wind followed shortly after the first one ended just to drive the point home that the outside was very cold right now.

“Frisk? Are you alright?” asked Papyrus, looking worried and honestly quite clueless about what was going on.

“That must’ve been _bone chilling_ ,” said Sans, shrugging.

“Sans! It’s too early for your jokes,” said Papyrus, narrowing his eyes at his brother.

“Are you two really not feeling cold at all?” asked Frisk, trying to keep themselves warm by rubbing their arms.

“Nope, I’m already a pretty chill guy,” answered Sans, his grin getting bigger.

This time Papyrus didn’t even grace the pun with a reaction. Frisk just sighed while still shivering from the cold wind.

“Here kid, with this, going outside is gonna be a breeze,” said Sans, winking as he began taking out his coat

“ _He’s worse than mom. So much worse._ ” Chara said, sighing and their voice sounding weak as if those puns were sucking out all energy from them.

With a little smile Frisk took the coat once Sans handed it to them; it smelled of ketchup and grease, which was pretty much standard for Sans. Still, Frisk put the coat on and, even though the skeleton was a little bigger than them, it still fit well enough on their body and it did warm the upper part of their body nicely.

“Should we get you a pair of pants as well?” asked Papyrus, looking towards Frisk’s exposed legs.

Frisk shook their head and took a few steps outside and looked back towards the brother, showing them that they weren’t as bothered by the cold anymore. The brothers followed Frisk out now that they were sure they were going to be fine and the three of them began heading towards a nearby park.

It wasn’t a long walk there, just about ten minutes by walking. Since it was still so early, there weren’t many people walking on the streets yet, there were a few cars passing by though, most likely people who have to go work early on Saturdays. The wind was still quite unforgiving but Sans’ coat helped deal with it and the skeleton brothers themselves weren’t fazed by it at all; being all bone did have some advantages sometimes.

Soon enough the trio arrived at the park; it was a pretty large and had plenty of trees scattered around but not so much as to make the area too dense and hard to see. it often served as a meeting spot for people around the area to hang out or even just as a peaceful piece of natural scenery to enjoy in the middle of an urban area. It also had a track that went around it and that was probably where Papyrus did his jogging.  


The wind hitting the trees’ leaves and the occasional bird either flying around or chirping were pretty much the only sounds to be heard in the park at the time. It didn’t look like there was anyone else there at first glance so it really felt like they had the whole place for themselves, at least for now.

“Well, it’s time for jogging, will you be joining me, Frisk?” asked Papyrus, sounding quite eager.

Frisk just nodded, even though they’d rather just take a literal walk in the park they figured they might as well make Papyrus happy and join in on his endeavors.

“What about you, Sans?” Papyrus asked his brother, looking hopeful.  


“I’ll sit out of this one, I’m just gonna find a place to sit down and cheer you two on,” said Sans.

He began walking into the park and sat down on a bench that was visible from where Papyrus and Frisk were standing on the track. Papyrus sighed in disappointment, likely having had hopes that his lazy brother would be more active than that after managing to wake up so early.

“Anyway, let us begin!” said Papyrus, quickly regaining his energy.

“ _You know, you’re not exactly dressed appropriately to go jogging,”_ Chara chimed in

“ _Neither is Papyrus,_ ” Frisk rebutted.

“ _Touché._ ”

With Sans gone, Frisk and Papyrus got into position to start the morning jog and after a brief countdown they began. Frisk wasn’t really all that interested in the exercise and mostly just spending some time doing stuff with Papyrus, but quickly found out that keeping up with Papyrus was going to be a little more difficult than they expected, mostly because the skeleton was significantly taller and so had longer legs, meaning that he quickly began getting ahead of them.

Frisk tried to go on a faster pace so they could keep up with Papyrus and at that point it looked less like they were jogging and more like basically running to catch up. The cold wind hitting them as they sped up made them shiver a little and start thinking that maybe they should’ve joined Sans at the bench.

However, before they could even make a lap around the park, Frisk noticed something in there that made them skid to a stop while Papyrus kept going ahead. They saw a kid around their age who was standing by Sans who was sleeping on a bench, looking at him with a curious expression on her face as if she had been looking at something she had never seen before, which was entirely possible given the circumstances.

“ _Hey, isn’t that one of your classmates?_ ” Chara pointed out.

Upon mention of it, Frisk remembered that yes, that girl was part of his class. What was she doing there this early? She had a white backpack on so she must’ve been going somewhere, but it didn’t look like she was accompanied by anybody. Curious, not only about why she was there but why she seemed so interested by Sans, Frisk decided to come closer to her.

As they stepped closer, the girl seemed to caught a glimpse of them from the corner of her eye and turned around, surprised.

“Frisk? What are you doing here?” asked the girl, looking a little confused.

Hearing her voice, Sans began waking up and saw the dark skinned little girl with eyes and medium length hair that shared the same black color in front of him. She was dressed in a black dress with some vertical white stripes on them and a pair of black shoes and once she saw that the skeleton was waking up, she immediately ran for cover behind Frisk.

“‘Sup kiddo,” said Sans, yawning and then looking at Frisk, “friend of yours?” he asked as he pointed at her with his thumb.

Frisk was about to answer when they were interrupted by the girl, who seemed very alarmed.  


“You know each other?!” she asked, surprised enough that she ended up raising her voice a little.

“Yup, we hang out with each other sometimes when they’re not busy. You their classmate or somethin’?” Sans asked back, then glancing back at Frisk as he waited for an answer.

Frisk nodded in answer to the skeleton and the girl looked perplexed by all of it, remaining in silence for a couple of seconds.

“Wow… So you really do hang out with monsters all the time like everyone says,” said the girl, looking a little impressed but not all that surprised, “anyway, my name’s Claire, I study in the same class as Frisk,” she told Sans as she kept hiding behind Frisk.

“Nice to meet ya, kid. I’m Sans, Sans the skeleton.” He waved at the girl. “And yeah, Frisk hangs out with monsters a lot, even their mother is one.”

“Yeah, I knew that. I see Ms.Tori bringing them into school sometimes and they’re always hanging out with that kid with no arms and some other monsters too, some kids even believe that Frisk is secretly a monster pretending to be human,” she said, smiling innocently.

“ _Or, you know, they could just be a human who’s friends with monsters,_ ” said Chara, sounding peeved.

Frisk just sighed, they had already heard of things like that going around in school but that was the first time someone it to their face and even then Claire was directing all that to Sans instead of them.

“Hey, that makes sense. That would explain a lot, actually,” said Sans, merely playing along for his own amusement.

Frisk shot Sans a look of disapproval to which Sans replied with a mere shrug while keeping the same usual grin on his face. It was at this point that Papyrus finally showed up again, walking from the track to the reunited group and approaching Frisk from behind.

“Frisk! Why did you stop suddenly? I thought I had left you behind but…” said Papyrus, then noticing Claire’s presence, “Oh? Hello! Who are you?”

“Uh…” mumbled Claire, looking a little intimidated by the taller skeleton even though he was wearing such a silly outfit.

“Relax, kid, that’s my bro and he’s the coolest guy you’ll ever meet, no need to be afraid,” said Sans to calm her down.  


“Indeed, there’s nothing to be afraid of, little girl! I am the great Papyrus and I have no intention of harming you!” Papyrus grinned, trying to make himself look as friendly as he possibly could.

“Oh… Okay, sorry…” she sighed, looking down for a bit and rubbing her neck before meeting Papyrus’ eyes again, a small smiling forming in her expression. “My name is Claire, I’m one of Frisk’s classmates at school.”

"I see, you two must be friends!” Papyrus then looked at Frisk, looking rather curious. “Frisk, why have you never told us about your human friend?”

“We’re not really friends, we’re just from the same class,” Claire explained, her smile remaining on her face until about two seconds later when it was replaced by a look of shock, “Not that I don’t want to be your friend or anything like that!” she said in a distressed, apologetic tone before calming herself down with a sigh.

“ _She’s kinda like Alphys and that’s not exactly a good thing,_ ” commented Chara.

Frisk had to agree on that point, Claire was looking like quite a socially awkward person, like Alphys. They never really paid her much attention at school, just occasionally seeing her talk with some other kids, but they also often saw her sitting around by herself eating some chocolate during break time. They had to wonder what exactly made her be like that, after all, Alphys had some pretty big reasons herself.  


“Actually… do you want to be friends with me, Frisk?” asked Claire, giving them a tiny, awkward smile.

Frisk smiled themselves and nodded in response. For all they had seen of her she didn’t seem to be bad kid, plus having more friends at school never hurts.

“Great! We’re officially friends now!” Claire said, sounding much more energetic, soon calming herself down slightly and beginning to search through her backpack for something, until she pulled out a small chocolate bar and walked over to Frisk, “here, I always give new friends chocolate, it’s a proof of friendship, you know?” she told them as she handed them the bar.

Frisk was a little surprised with the gesture, but accepted the chocolate nonetheless, they could use a little boost of energy after what little jogging they did, plus they weren’t the type to refuse free candy, especially one that was supposed to be a symbol of friendship.

“Thanks,” said Frisk, unwrapping the bar and beginning to eat it.

“ _Well, it’s not as good as a friendship locket but at least it’s tasty,_ ” commented Chara, sounding almost… jealous?

“ _I really hope you didn’t try eating the locket at some point to come to that conclusion,_ ” Frisk responded, trying to contain some snickers at the mental image

“ _Don’t you even start,_ ” Chara said, sounding not quite amused by the witty remark.

“What about us? We’re friends too, right?” asked Papyrus, looking quite eager.

Claire stopped for a moment, then looked at Papyrus’ direction, but not quite at him exactly. “Um… Well…”

“Guess the girl didn’t like us as much,” said Sans, shrugging, “can’t win them all.”

“No! It’s not that!” Claire said in a higher volume, giving Sans a look that made it clear that she was upset with him for even suggesting that idea, but she soon began looking down. “It’s just that… my parents always told me that monsters like to lure little kids so they can take our soul and never give it back, so they told me to never become friends with monsters,” she explained, her voice tone sounding a little more awkward.

“ _... Those people do realize they put their kid in a school ran by monsters, right?_ ” asked Chara, perplexed.

Although the monsters were in fact trying to take human souls until not too long ago, it was still a little saddening to hear things like that. It just made it all the more clear that it would take a lot more time before humans and monsters would be able to get along without any prejudice. Still, Claire was at least getting along with the skeletons, but it was clear that there was still some doubt in her.  


“W-Well, it’s like I said before, we’re not going to hurt you, little human!” said Papyrus, trying to reassure her.

“Yeah, after all, we hang around with Frisk, right? They’re human and they’re perfectly fine, right?” said Sans.

Hearing Sans’ argument, Claire tilted her head slightly as she began taking it in and sorting everything out in her own head, until she looked back at the skeletons with a smile.

“That’s right! You must be nice monsters, so we can definitely be friends!” she declared.

“ _Well, it’s a start,_ ” Frisk thought.

“ _That girl is way too easy to manipulate,_ ” commented Chara.

Claire then began searching her backpack again, probably trying to get some more chocolates so Papyrus and Sans could have theirs.

“Uh, kid, you don’t need to give us any candy. I don’t think we can eat it,” said Sans.

“Huh? Why? Are you…” said Claire, then looking back at the brothers and stopping for a moment as it dawned on her, “oh…duh…” she said, giving herself a few taps on the head while looking annoyed with herself.

Sans and Frisk both snickered at the whole thing, it probably would take a while for the girl to get used to the fact that she was dealing with skeletons. Meanwhile, Papyrus looked a little disappointed that he wasn’t getting any chocolate, but he seemed to understand why if nothing else.

Taking a look at the backpack again, Frisk had to wonder again what she needed it for and why she was even around at that time. Plus, she was walking around in a dress and although the wind wasn’t being as harsh as it was earlier, it was still fairly cold out, so that indicated that she left home in a hurry.

“So… Claire, it’s really early in the morning, what are you doing carrying that backpack around?” asked Frisk.

This question gave Claire some pause and she stopped making eye contact, looking slightly downwards as she began to think about what to say.

“I… Uh… I’m doing grocery shopping!” she said, perking up for a moment before going back to being nervous again, “For, uh… my mum, she asked me to do some shopping for her.”

“At seven in the morning?” asked Sans, his eye sockets narrowing a little bit and showing he didn’t buy any of that as he pulled his phone out of his pocket to confirm the time.  


“We’re early birds, we do everything in the morning,” Claire responded, trying to keep a straight face, but it didn’t last long before it turned into a grimace.

“ _This girl is so bad at lying it’s fascinating,_ ” said Chara.

“Well… In that case you should finish your task before your mother gets worried, right?” asked Papyrus, even he was looking a little doubtful of the whole thing.

“Uh… Right, guess I should go…” she said, still sounding unsure, “Um… bye then, see you at school, Frisk.”

Although she hesitated at first, Claire began walking past them. Her pace was slow, as if she was forcing herself to go in spite of her better judgement. With the way she was going Frisk decided that just letting her go and not doing anything could end up being something they’d regret later.

“You’re running away from home aren’t you?” Frisk asked as directly as they could.

The question made Claire stop on her tracks immediately, she then looked back with a nervous look on her face, although there were some hints of guilt.

“Running away?!” exclaimed Papyrus, looking shocked.

“I-I… It’s not… I’m just…” she said, completely losing her composure.

“It’s written all over your face, kid, better just come out clean,” said Sans, a hint of worry being noticeable in his intonation.

Claire sighed and looked down, beginning to rub one of her arms and occasionally shivering from the cold wind when it hit.

“... Yeah, I’m running away, sorry for lying.” said Claire, her voice going a little weaker.

“But why?” asked Papyrus, worried.

“It’s just… I think it’s better if I’m gone, that’s all,” she replied.

“Did you do somethin’ wrong, kid?” asked Sans, his curiosity piqued.

“N-No… I don’t think I did… It’s just…” she closed one of her hands and began shaking a little bit, “Mama and papa are having money problems and… I always did badly at school and they spend a lot of money on me and I can’t do anything to help, s-so I thought that, m-maybe if I went away, they could save more money for themselves…?” she said, although the doubt in her voice made it clear she wasn’t even sure if what she was doing would have the effect she wanted.

Everybody was struck silent for a while.  They exchanged worried looks with each other, although of the three Sans looked the least concerned, but he was the type of person to keep his emotion bottled up inside anyway. Chara was also completely silent through the exchange to the point it felt almost eerie that they hadn’t said anything about the matter yet.

“Have you talked to your parents about that?” asked Papyrus, the worry in his voice as well as his expression making it look like what she had said had hit a little too close to home to him.

“What? Of course not! They would never let me do something like this,” she responded, looking baffled that he even asked something like that.

“Then that means that your parents care about ya, kid,” said Sans.

“I know they do!” she replied, starting to sound a little frustrated.

“Then why do you think they would be happier if you left?” asked Papyrus, looking a little lost as he tried to understand her line of thought, “they’ll be worried about you.”

Claire stopped for a moment, a sad look on her face as she looked away from the three of them.

“They… they’ll get over it after a while,” she answered, her voice quieter and full of doubt.

“No, they won’t,” said Frisk, shaking their head, “if your parents are good ones, they’d search for you everywhere and wouldn’t stop until they finally found you again,” they added with a soft smile on their face.

“ _Be it dead or alive,_ ” Chara finally spoke, their voice sounding a little detached from the current mood  


“ _You just had to say that,_ ” Frisk replied, sighing internally.

“... Yeah, that sounds like something my parents would do,” said Claire, a small smile revealing itself before disappearing just as quickly as it showed up, “but what else can I do? They’re having trouble and I wanna help, but there’s nothing I can do.”

“Of course you can help! There has to be something you can do, something that really will help, you just haven’t realized it yet!” said Papyrus, speaking with utmost confidence.

“Really?” asked Claire, looking up at Papyrus, surprised with how sure he sounded.

“The Great Papyrus is never wrong! As long as you don’t give up, you can always find a solution!” he proudly answered.

“But what if I don’t?!”

“You just have to keep trying! I am one hundred percent sure you can do it!”

Just how certain Papyrus was being about the subject, how much faith he had in her and how energetic he was being as he kept going, it was all visibly affecting the girl who had been so timid since the subject was brought to light. She kept staring at him for a while, visibly struggling with her doubts, but it looked like she was slowly gaining some confidence and, soon enough, her smile returned as she now seemed much less vulnerable and timid, instead she was starting to looking brighter and happier.

“Okay… If you’re really sure, then I’ll try to…” she paused, taking a deep breath, gathering her own confidence “... No, I _will_ think of something,” she spoke out, grinning as she was now completely motivated.

“That’s the spirit!” Papyrus then began calming down just a little bit. “But first you should go back home so your parents don’t worry about you being gone later.”

Claire nodded, still looking just as excited as before. Sans and Frisk, meanwhile, were just watching the whole scene unfold in front of them, Sans looking particularly proud of his brother while Frisk was simply glad Papyrus was around for this, if there was somebody one could count to make a good pep talk, it was him.

“We can bring you back home, kid, just in case,” Sans offered, shrugging afterwards, “not like we have much else to do anyway.”

“Oh, okay, sure! That would be nice,” Claire responded, also calming down a little but still looking quite happy.

“Do you still know your way back?” asked Frisk.

Claire nodded. “I actually didn’t get to go too far before I ran into you guys, me and my parents like to come to this park every now and then to relax a little.”

“Then we should be able to bring you back before your parents notice you’ve left, perfect!”

With that, Claire began leading the way back to her home and they followed behind her. True to her word it didn’t take long for them to find her house. It was a fairly small house with two floors, the walls from the outside had a light brown coloration and the windows were white. On one of the windows on the side they could see a rope made of blankets dangling from there, probably where Claire made her escape from.  


“Wow, where did ya learn to do something like that, kid?” asked Sans, admiring the work with the rope.

“I saw it on TV a couple of times,” Claire innocently replied.

“ _That’s a good way to get your parents to ban you from watching TV for a while,_ ” commented Chara, much to Frisk’s amusement.

“Do you think you can climb back up?” asked Papyrus.

“Well, I mean, it can’t be that hard, right?” she asked back.

Claire then moved to the blanket rope and tried climbing it with little success, barely managing to lift herself from the ground during the first try and the second attempt didn’t go much better but she still kept going. Frisk was finding the whole thing to be rather amusing and from the looks of it so was Sans, meanwhile Papyrus looked like he wanted to cheer her on but refrained from yelling as a precaution, being forced to rely on silent cheering.  


“This is hard,” said Claire, her earlier enthusiasm dying down and being replaced with fatigue.

“Try again, I’m sure it’ll work this time,” said Sans, then glancing at Frisk and giving them a wink, earning a smile from them.

Claire then got up and sighed, dusting herself off before grabbing onto the rope and trying to climb again. At the same time, Sans began using his magic to make her float while still giving her the illusion that she was actually climbing up on her own.

During all this, Sans’ left eye was flashing blue and yellow, but he soon covered it with his free hand in case the girl decided to look at him while climbing. The hand he was using to do his magic, meanwhile, was being kept hidden behind his back.  


Claire just seemed amazed that she was actually doing it so well, her eyes were wide open and so was her mouth, but she just kept going. Papyrus was silently cheering on her all the way through as she eventually got into her room from the window and pulled the rope back in as well.

“I did it!” she said, trying to keep her voice low.

“Nice,” said Sans, already back to a more natural pose so he wouldn't raise any suspicions.  


“Great job!” said Papyrus, also trying to be a little more quiet but not doing quite as good of a job at it.

“ _Well, that’s a way to raise one’s self-esteem a little bit,”_ Chara commented.

Frisk merely responded with a thumbs-up and a proud smile. After that, they all began waving Claire goodbye as she was now safely back home before anybody could notice that she had ever left.

“Thanks for all the help!” she told them as she waved back.

“You’re welcome!” Papyrus replied.

With Claire safe at home, the trio began making their way back home, or rather, to the skeletons’ home. The day was still just at it’s beginning so there was still a lot of time to do stuff, for now though, just getting something to eat would be good.

\---------------------------------------------------------

The rest of the day was uneventful, but fun.  Watching TV at home, going out to eat with Sans, doing some grocery shopping, watching Papyrus do some magic practice and just generally hanging out. As it was starting to get late everyone was sitting on the couch watching some cooking show featuring Mettaton in it.

“I wonder if we’ll see Mettaton use the chainsaw again, last time was so exciting!” commented Papyrus.

“ _For stirring the pasta, maybe_ ,” said Chara.

“ _I don’t think that would stir the pasta exactly…_ ” Frisk pointed out, bemused.

“ _After Miss I’m-Gonna-Stir-The-Noodles-By-Repeatedly-Stabbing-The-Pot-With-A-Spear I wouldn’t be surprised with any other methods these people can come up with._ ”

“ _Touché,”_ said Frisk, shrugging.

Soon the sound of a yawn was heard over the television noise and it was none other than Sans, who then got off the couch and stretched a little, looking quite sleepy.

“I think I’m gonna crash now,” said Sans, scratching the back of his head.

“Already?” asked Papyrus, taking a quick glance outside, “But it’s still sunset,” he pointed out, looking slightly surprised.

“Yea, but I also woke up earlier so…” Sans yawned once more. “G’night.”

“Good night,” Both Papyrus and Frisk replied.

Sans then began walking upstairs, although as soon as Frisk and Papyrus looked away from him they could hear the sound of a door opening and then closing. Papyrus resumed watching the show again but after a minute or so Frisk noticed that he looked a little distracted or even bothered by something.

“Hey, Papyrus,” said Frisk, nudging the skeleton slightly, “Is something wrong?”

Papyrus remained the same way for a while, although it looked like he did in fact hear them, but that only seemed to make him look more bothered. Seeing Papyrus like that was such a bizarre sight that it felt borderline unsettling and it was clear now that whatever they were going to talk about now was going to be serious.

“Frisk, do you promise to not tell Sans what I’m going to tell you?” he asked them, looking rather concerned as he folded his arms.

Frisk merely nodded in response, they already had an idea of what Papyrus might have wanted to talk about, but you could never be too sure.

“Listening to your friend earlier, it made me feel a little worried about Sans. I don’t know what happened but I know there’s something that’s been bothering him for a while now.” Papyrus sighed. “I thought he was just sad because we were stuck in the Underground but… even now it doesn’t look like much changed even if he’s been a little more active lately.”

“But what does that have to do with her?” asked Frisk, slightly tilting their head.

“Sans never tells anyone anything, everytime I ask if he’s doing fine he says he is, but I just know that there’s something bothering him; and since he’s always hiding stuff, I’m worried that he’s hiding something serious that might lead to him doing something he’ll regret, just like that girl. I mean, I can’t even imagine what could’ve happened if we didn’t stop her!” he explained, his momentarily getting louder for a moment before he sighed again.

“ _I can make a few guesses,”_ said Chara, their voice completely void of any kind of energy.

“Frisk, do you have any idea of what might have happened with him?” Papyrus asked

This gave Frisk some pause, they did know at least a good bit of why Sans was the way he was and even though they had given him some comfort yesterday on that matter, it probably wouldn’t be that easy to change. Still, even they still felt like there was some things about Sans that they didn’t understand themselves, despite being a skeleton it was pretty hard to see through him.  


“... Kinda, but I don’t think I can-” Frisk began saying.

“I don’t want you to tell me,” Papyrus interrupted, before beginning to look down, “I think once Sans is ready, he’ll tell me what’s going on and I want to hear it from him. I just want to be sure that funny lazybones is going to be ok. So, Frisk…” He then began looking directly at them. “Is my brother going to be ok? Do you think something bad might happen?”

Papyrus’ expression was one that was almost pleading for an answer, Frisk had never seen him like that before. Speaking so calmly and sounding so worried, it was clear Sans being so secretive was bothering him far more than anything else could, all because Papyrus was afraid something bad could be happening that he didn’t know about.

“... I thought you hated his puns,” said Frisk, trying to stall giving an answer for a little bit.

“Oh, I do!” said Papyrus, looking surprised that Frisk even thought otherwise, “They’re such a cheap form of comedy, I could never like something so effortless!... Even if they’re kinda funny sometimes,” he explained, looking away with his eyes narrowing themselves a little as he said the last sentence.

“But then why did you say he’s funny?” Frisk further inquired.

Papyrus then looked back at Frisk. “Because! My brother is very intelligent and talented, just like me! I’m sure if put some effort into it he could come up with unforgettable, hilarious jokes!” he spoke with confidence, although he soon began looking a little disappointed, “I just wish he would aim bigger than relying on cheap puns for comedy, that’s such a waste of talent.”

Hearing that coming from Papyrus was at the same time heartwarming and also a little sad, they both held each other in such high regards but at the same time the whole situation with the resetting timelines created a barrier between them that clearly was hurting both of them so much yet Papyrus didn’t know what to do and Sans… He probably just thought Papyrus was better off not knowing.

“ _I thought he was in blissful ignorance about everything that was going on but… I guess I underestimated him,_ ” commented Chara, sounding a little touched by the whole thing “ _What are you gonna say?_ ”

“ _I guess… All I can do is go with what my gut tells me,_ ” Frisk responded

Taking a deep breath, Frisk looked at Papyrus who was now looking back at them with curiosity as they still hadn’t answered his question and in fact, the fact they were stalling was probably just making him all the more anxious.

“Sans is ok, Papyrus, he’s just dealing with some… complex things,” said Frisk, looking slightly downwards in shame before looking back up at Papyrus, “but i think all he needs from you right now is for you to just keep being yourself, after all there’s nothing greater than you, right?” They asked, smiling.

Papyrus took a moment to process what was said and once he did, he sighed in relief, it looked as if some of the weight on his mind had been lifted even if there were still some mysteries left unfolded.

“Of course! As long as I am around, my brother knows he has nothing to fear for I will always be there to give him support as it is the duty of any great brother!” said Papyrus in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, unfolding his arms and placing a hand on his chest proudly “I shouldn’t have doubted my brother, I know he would never do something wrong, so if there’s something bothering him, I’ll just have to keep him happy!”  


“Yeah, I’m sure you’ll do great at that,” said Frisk, letting out some happy giggles.

“ _You sure Sans is just gonna reveal everything someday?,_ ” said Chara, sounding rather doubtful.

“ _We’ll just have to stay determined, Papyrus isn’t the type to give up, especially on someone like Sans so some day that lazybones will have to open up and if nothing else we can try to give him a little push,_ ” Frisk responded, with conviction.

All of sudden the conversation was cut-off by the loud sound of a chainsaw being turned on, Frisk was distracted enough that it was enough to make him jump a little. Both Frisk and Papyrus then looked back at the TV.

“Oh! He’s using the chainsaw!” said Papyrus, sounding quite excited as usual.

Frisk let out a sigh and took the opportunity to catch a breath because that one really caught him off guard, they could even feel their hair standing on it’s end for a moment. Once they calmed down they sat back and began watching the show with Papyrus again, although they couldn’t quite focus on the show, instead they just kept thinking that after this they would have to talk to Sans again, but that would be for another day.  



	4. Intermission 1

Standing in a familiar hall, with large windows with the delta rune depicted on them looming over him, light making it’s way through them and bathing the hall with golden light…

He had been there before, waiting to give someone their judgement. He could only remember doing that once and that one time he had felt proud about them, seeing just how far they went with only their kindness and survival skills. But he had to wonder just how many times now he had judged that same person before, it definitely didn’t feel like the first time.

For now, he was standing by himself, simply waiting. This was something he was already getting used to, as strange as that thought may be. Eventually he heard the sound of footsteps heading towards the hall. As the sound drew closer, he felt the atmosphere around him become heavier and all of his instincts were telling him to leave. However, he didn’t budge from his spot, for he already knew what was coming.

Soon, there they were. Frisk, slowly walking into the corridor with a knife in hands. Their expression was completely blank, not one hint of emotion there. They didn’t even look like they were truly alive, more like some puppet that someone was controlling from a distance.

“... Heh, I wonder if my mind is playing tricks on me, or if this is really who you used to be,” he said, already knowing Frisk wouldn’t reply. For all intents and purposes, he was just voicing his thoughts. “Well, I guess we’ll just do this-”

Suddenly he was interrupted by a faint, fake laugh coming from Frisk. That was different from all the other times he had all of this happen. He knew none of this was real, it was a recurring nightmare, or perhaps calling it a recollection would be more accurate given the circumstances. But in none of his other experiences with this situation Frisk actually talked to him.

"Mind sharing the joke?” He asked, trying to keep a cool attitude even though he was starting to get a little unnerved now.

“You act like you actually know anything, it’s hilarious,” Frisk responded, speaking in a dull monotone that betrayed what they were saying.

“What-”

Before he could even properly begin his sentence, suddenly Frisk began running towards him at such a speed that they were almost like a blur and in mere seconds all he could feel was a sharp pain in his chest as his vision went all white.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Sans opened up his eyes to find himself in bed. He wasn’t hurt at all, of course, but the whole thing left him with an itchy feeling on his chest. He let time pass as he just stared at the ceiling, still stunned by what had just happened, but also just lacking the energy to even shift around in bed.

He didn’t even know what time it was, this was what made eventually sit up on his bed and look out at the window to his left after a while. There, he saw the blue sky with few clouds, from the looks of it, it was going to be a sunny day, though the sun wasn’t up yet. He got off his bed and walked over to the window, just to get a better view.

It was still a little surreal, to see the sky, to have weather… It felt too good to be true still. Yet, he was there, living it, but for how long, he couldn’t tell. Frisk was being sincere when they said there wouldn’t be any more resets from now on, he could tell that much. Still, as much as he wanted to believe that, there was always that one feeling of doubt in the back of his mind, that fear of having any and all happiness suddenly being taken away from him… It made it hard to really enjoy this new “freedom”.

And now, more than ever, he felt like he was missing parts of the puzzle. Frisk didn’t want to talk about the reason why they would go on such a killing spree, only saying it was a complicated matter, which really didn’t do anything but raise further questions. The last nightmare didn’t help either, was that something Frisk told them in that timeline, or was his mind really playing tricks on him?

“Gee kid, could you have been any more vague…” Sans muttered, sighing.

Now that he was up already, he decided to check on what Frisk and Papyrus were up to. Knowing his brother, he was already getting ready for another early start so as to make the most out of his time. Frisk… if yesterday was any indication, they would be struggling to get out of bed.

Leaving his room with a yawn and stretching himself a little along the way, Sans headed to his brother’s room. Once there, he slowly opened up the door to see if there was anyone still there sleeping and, indeed, Frisk was there, sleeping with their face shoved on the pillow almost as if they were trying to smother themselves with it. It was a bit of an amusing thought, but where was Papy-

“Sans?!” 

The booming voice blasting through the previously dead silent house startled Sans enough to make him freeze for a moment. The sudden yelling was also enough to wake Frisk up and Sans could see them sitting up, then beginning to look at the clock on the wall with a half-awake expression.

Sans turned to face his surprised brother. “‘Sup bro?” He casually asked

“You’re awake early again? Is something wrong?” asked Papyrus, looking genuinely concerned now.

“Nah. Guess waking up early yesterday kinda messed up my sleep schedule.” Sans shrugged

Papyrus went wide-eyed. “You have a schedule?!”

“Anyway, I’m guessing you two are gonna be leaving for the daily routine?”

“Yes, of course! Will you be coming with us again?” Papyrus asked, sounding somewhat hopeful.

“Nah, not this time. Alphys is gonna be coming over today to visit and we can’t have her get here without anybody home, right?”

“Oh…” Papyrus muttered, slouching a little and sounding disappointed, “Is that about the book you lent to her?”

Sans merely nodded in response. Papyrus was surprisingly low in energy during this whole conversation, to the point it made Sans wonder if he also had something in mind that was distracting him.

That was short lived, as soon Papyrus seemed to perk up again “Well! Make sure you’re actually awake when she arrives!”

“You got it bro, I’m gonna go back to bed and get some rest since it’s gonna take a while for her to get here.” Sans pointed towards his room with his thumb.

Before going, Sans glanced back at Frisk, who had been listening on everything but made no comment. Truthfully, from the look on their face it didn’t look like they were even paying full attention to what he and Papyrus were talking about. Few people could keep up with Papyrus’ schedule and they clearly weren’t one of those people. Kid seemed half-awake at best, barely conscious at worst.

Sans then went back into his room and immediately threw himself onto his bed. He could still hear Papyrus talking outside and also the footsteps from him and Frisk moving around the house, but for the most part he was left in solitude.

He knew Frisk wouldn’t be doing anything to hurt anyone, so there was little risk of them harming Papyrus while left alone with him. Plus, this left Sans some quiet time to do some thinking, at least until Alphys showed up, assuming he was awake by then that is.

“Just what are you hiding, kid…?” He said outloud in a weak, tired tone.

It was six in the morning on a Sunday and although it had just started, he knew he was in for a busy, mentally draining week. There were still so many things he didn’t quite understand yet and somehow more things were getting added to that pile. It was enough to make him want to just not bother with it and, all things considered, that would probably be the best choice.

He didn’t dwell on that for too long though, as Sans soon fell asleep once more, trying to get some more sleep before the day really started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This still isn't dead and I wanted to get something out to prove it. It's short, but it's purpose is mainly to set things up as we now switch POV from Frisk to Sans. Unfortunately I also started working now, but I'm trying to manage a schedule to allow me to keep this going with a better post rate.


End file.
